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20 Cents The Bank of the State of South Carolina
| Issuer | Bank of the State of South Carolina |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | A vignette of sailing ships occupies the top centre of the note. To the left, a cartouche displays the denomination in Roman numerals, while a roundel to the right renders the same value in Arabic numerals. The lower portion carries the bank title, date, and a manuscript cashier's signature line. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is plain, printed on unadorned paper with no design elements, lettering, or ornamentation, consistent with emergency fractional currency issues of the Civil War era. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of the State of South Carolina was one of the few state-chartered banks in the Confederacy that remained solvent and operational through most of the war, backed by state assets rather than speculative capital. By 1862, with coin entirely absent from circulation, fractional notes like this one became the only practical medium for small transactions — change-making had become a genuine logistical problem across the South.
Small-denomination issues from this bank were redeemable in Confederate Treasury notes rather than specie, a quiet acknowledgment that the silver standard was finished for the duration.